Historic research from the 80s and 90s now available online

Written by: Dorothy Field, Heritage Survey Program Coordinator and Ron Kelland, Historic Places Research Officer

The Alberta Heritage Survey Program is happy to announce that digitized versions of eight additional Occasional Papers, published by the Historic Sites Service between 1985 and 1992, are now available online via the Alberta Open Government Portal.

In June 2025, the first 15 Occasional Papers were made available online. With the release of these remaining eight, the entirety of the original Historic Sites Service Occasional Papers is now accessible online.

The Occasional Papers series was started in 1976 to make Albertans, historians and heritage professionals better aware of certain themes in Alberta’s history and built heritage. Similar to the Archaeological Survey of Alberta’s Occasional Papers, popularly known as the “Blue Books” or the “Blue Series,” the Historic Sites Service Occasional Papers series were produced by staff historians and contractors based on their in-house research done to support the development and interpretation of Alberta’s historic sites.

The Radway Livery Barn, Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. Built in 1928, it was acquired by the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village in 1978 as one of the province’s last extant examples of a livery barn. Historic Sites Service historian Peter Melnycky’s research about the barn was published as Occasional Paper No. 18. Source: Conservation and Construction Services.
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